In the Company of FEAR
by Zexion77
Summary: Shortly after Alma is released, the Government sends in a certain squad to try and contain the situation. With an elite squad on the job, what could possibly go wrong? FEAR 2 x Battlefield: Bad Company Crossover
1. Calling in Cannon Fodder

In the Company of FEAR

By Zexion72

Author's Note: As the description says, this fan fic is a cross over between Battlefield: Bad Company and FEAR 2. I have done some cross over stories before and they worked out pretty well, so I figured that I'd give this combination a try. By the way, this takes place throughout FEAR 2 so there will be a lot of spoilers.

Disclaimer: I do not own FEAR 2 or Battlefield Bad Company. Nor do I own any game, music, movie, or any other references that are made in this story.

* * *

Chapter 1: Calling in cannon fodder

To say that the situation was out of control would be an understatement. It was a complete mess. Terry Halford knew that, hell anyone with common sense did. Yet, Genevieve Aristide thinks that she can somehow contain Alma Wade once more. Maybe there is a way to destroy Alma before Genevieve can get a chance to carry out her plans? Terry picked up the phone and dialed the number of someone who might be able to help him out with this.

"Yes?"

"Hello sir, this is 'Snake Fist'," said Terry.

"I knew I'd be getting a call from you sooner or later. What's the situation with Origin and... her?"

"Somehow, Alma Wade is still alive. She has been set free from the vault and, as you know, that explosion..."

"Shit..."

"Dr. Aristide thinks that she can contain Alma again, quite frankly I think that's impossible. Alma could still use her powers even when she was in stasis. She cannot be contained at all."

"What do you propose we do then? We have to do something about her."

"I believe that Alma's physical form has been restored to the way it was prior to her death. With a physical body, she is now a little more vulnerable... in theory. If we can track her down and eliminate her, that will resolve this entire situation." There was a moment of silence before anything else was said.

"Very well, we shall proceed with that course of action." Terry was relieved that someone else agreed with him on this. But there was still one problem that couldn't easily be solved.

"But who could we send to hunt down and kill Alma? The Special Forces?"

"No, I've got another squad in mind. This is the squad we usually send in BEFORE the Special Forces."

"What? You don't mean..."

"That's right, that squad in 222nd Army Battalion... Bad Company."

* * *

Meanwhile...

-Preston Marlowe's Point of View-

* * *

I had woke up that morning just like any other normal day. As always, I had 'accidentally' left my alarm clock off so I slept in a little. Though I must say that life has been kinda of dull and boring since the war with Russia ended. Sure, me and everyone else in my squad are all rich beyond imagination thanks to all that gold we stole from the Legionnaire and his group of mercenaries. But what good is it to be rich AND bored? So now I spent my days playing one hour too many of Unreal Tournament 3 and other various online FPS games. Even though I'm part of the army and have to go through REAL firefights, these games are still fun. Though, a change of pace would be nice quite frankly. That's right about the time that I got that phone call.

"Sarge?" I asked.

"Yeah it's me, I'd ask how you've been but we don't have time for small talk," said Sergeant Redford.

"What's up?"

"B-Company has been called up to do a certain job for our country."

"We going back to Russia or something?"

"No, this is something going on right here in America. I'll explain the details later. A jeep is headed your way to pick you up. I'll see you soon." With that, Sarge hung up. I was silent as I thought about this. With the country in need of our help again, that put an end to my rather boring lifestyle. As happy as I was, I did my best to stay calm and reserved like a good soldier.

"YES!" I shouted as I jumped up and down. Well, so much for the good soldier part. Time to pack my bags. I mean, if it's something happening right here in the good ol' US of A then it couldn't be anything REALLY bad... right? We defeated the Legionnaire and his 'deadliest army in the world', what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

12 hours later...

* * *

As I got out of the helicopter I saw three familiar faces. Haggard hadn't changed at all. He still had that mustache and that green beanie on his head. His favorite rocket launcher was strapped to his back. Sweetwater still looked like a nerd with those big glasses on. Sarge had that serious face on as always.

"Hey it's the 'new guy'!" Said Haggard.

"I'm not really 'new' in this squad you know," I said.

"You'll always be the new guy to me!"

"Don't mind him, I'm pretty sure he's just going through explosion withdrawal," said Sweetwater as he looked over at me.

"I can't believe the war in Russia ended... that was so much fun..." Said Haggard with a tone of sorrow in his voice.

"I can't believe we are all still alive after all that. Quite frankly I'm glad that the war is over, it means I don't have to worry about getting killed. If I die out on a battlefield I can't..."

"Shut up Sweetwater," said Sarge. He cleared his throat and began speaking again. "Alright, listen up. They'll fill us in on the details inside the base. Then we'll be heading out right away. If you guys want to make it through this mission in one piece then you are going to have to shut up and listen."

"You seem kinda spooked, Sarge. What's up?" Asked Sweetwater.

"You'll know soon enough, let's just get this show on the road." We were escorted into what looked like some sort of briefing room at this local base. Once we sat down in the chairs at the table in the middle of the room, everyone else left the room. The screen in front of us turned on and there was an image of the city that was a couple of miles away from this base.

"It's good to see that everyone is here. Let's begin," said a voice.

"Whoa! I think I'm hearin' voices now. I GOTTA blow something up soon before I go completely crazy!" Exclaimed Haggard.

"No I heard it too. It's coming from those speakers over there," said Sweetwater.

"Well you are just as crazy as me, so no wonder you are hearing that voice."

"What? I'm completely sane compared to you!"

"Both of you just shut the hell up," said Sarge. He looked back over at the screen. "Please continue."

"Anyway, you have been called here to eliminate a dangerous being who could potentially destroy the world if they aren't stopped." Someone THAT dangerous is here in America? The thought of that sent chills down my spine.

"So our mission is to find this person and kill them?" I asked.

"That's correct."

"What do you need the Military for then? You could have just gotten an Assassin," I added.

"This isn't an ordinary person, Marlowe. Not by a long shot," stated Sarge.

"Sergeant Redford is correct. Tell me, what do you know about Armacham Technologies?"

"Armacham? That's the company that has been working with the military for quite some time now on various projects," said Sweetwater.

"Like Project Origin and Project Perseus," said Sarge.

"Right, among other projects. The individual you will be hunting down was the most important component of Project Origin," said the voice.

"So we're killing a scientist?" I asked.

"I wish I could say yes to that, but that is not the case. Your target's name is Alma Wade. She is the daughter of the late Harlan Wade." A picture of a little girl in a red dress appeared on the screen. She had long dark hair that covered a lot of her face.

"What? Are you kiddin' me? We're being sent to kill a little girl? That's just wrong. I thought we'd be blowin' stuff up or something fun like that!" Exclaimed Haggard.

"This is an old picture of Alma. Besides, she's not an ordinary little girl. Watch this video." A black and white video popped up of what looked like soldiers shooting at something. Suddenly they fell to the ground and in a burst of light they were reduced to nothing more than skeletons in a giant pool of blood. At the far right of the screen was the little girl who was in the photo.

"Good God..." I said.

"That was when she was sealed away in the vault. Her Father decided to free her for whatever reason and now that she's free she can use all of her power. Alma Wade is gifted with unnatural psychic powers. To cut a long story short, she's the mother of the apocalypse. We believe that she is currently using her restored physical body, so if you encounter her you will see something like this." Another video appeared and this one lasted only for a few seconds. But in it for a brief moment, a woman with long, dark, messy hair could be seen. Her back was turned towards the camera and for some reason she wasn't wearing any clothes. "You orders are simple, find her and destroy her."

"Destroy her? How are we supposed to do that? She killed those guys with just her THOUGHTS! We don't stand a chance against that!" Exclaimed Sweetwater.

"If her physical form has truly been restored, then she should be vulnerable once again. I'm pretty sure I don't need to say anymore."

"Oh I get it! We just have to blow her up with a good ol' RPG!" Exclaimed Haggard as he got all excited.

"In theory, yes."

"We're all doomed..." Groaned Sweetwater.

"Don't be so negative! Your negativity is going to kill us all first!" Exclaimed Haggard.

"Just shut the hell up you two, this is an important mission. That girl could potentially destroy this entire world. I can't go fishing anymore if the world is a pile of ashes. So let's take her out, and get back to our regular, peaceful lives," said Sarge.

"So that's why you agreed to take this assignment? I was wondering what could have possibly pulled you out of your peaceful hobby," I asked.

"Pretty much." Sarge looked up at the screen. "Anything else? Or are we ready to go?"

"Open up that case on the table." Sarge opened it as instructed. Inside was some sort of bottle with pills in it.

"What's this?"

"To put in layman's terms: These pills will temporarily create a connection that will make Alma 'aware' of the four of you. We believe that she will pay you guys a visit if she senses you. Once she shows herself, open fire. Of course if that doesn't work we do have a back up plan."

"What is plan B?" I asked.

"There is a group of soldiers from Delta that are being used by Dr. Genevieve Aristide to do something similar. Only she thinks that she can use them as bait to contain Alma Wade once more. This plan will fail, Alma cannot be sealed away. If possible, I want the four of you to rendezvous with that group and with your combined efforts, you should be able to destroy Alma. I will give you more details on how to destroy her later. I'm pretty confident that if all else, fails plan B will work. Get moving, and don't take those pills until you've arrived at the city... or what's left of it."

"What's left of it?" The image of the city appeared once more.

"This is the city not too long ago. And this is what happened to the city very recently after the place containing Alma was destroyed." A video started playing of what looked like a mushroom cloud explosion occurring somewhere in the city.

"WHOA! Now that is one hell of an explosion!" Exclaimed Haggard.

"No, no, no, that's BAD Haggard! Nuclear explosions cause a LOT of problems!" Exclaimed Sweetwater.

"Alright, let's get moving!" Said Sarge.

"Before you go, I want you to get acquainted with someone who will be supporting you throughout the mission," said the voice.

"Hey Boys, it's been awhile," said a familiar, female voice.

"Ah! Miss July!" Exclaimed Sweetwater. Mike-one-Juliet (AKA Miss July), the woman who had supported us through our escapades in Russia good and bad. We shared some of the gold with her like we promised we would. Though she seemed to care more about us than the gold.

"Miss July, it's good to hear from you. I guess it really is a small world," said Sarge.

"Indeed, I'll be there to update you on the situation and provide you with any intel you will need to get the job done," said Miss July.

"Good luck gentlemen, you're gonna need it. Once you get into the city, head for Wade Elementary School," said the voice. So that's how everything started. We knew what our mission was: Save the world from a girl with frightening psychic powers. I didn't know exactly how we were going to kill someone like her, but we'll worry about the details later. Before we knew it we were up in the air on a helicopter heading towards the edge of the city. I didn't understand why they couldn't just take us to the school, is it really that dangerous in the city?

As we drew closer I looked out the open door. The city was almost completely reduced to ruins. I could still see the mushroom cloud in the sky, but it had dispersed for the most part. The city seemed quiet, too quiet.

"We've arrived at the edge of the city. Be advised that from here on out you are on your own. You will not be getting any kind of support whatsoever," said the Pilot as the helicopter landed. We jumped out and took the pills as the Helicopter began to fly away.

"Ok, let's get this over with," said Sarge.

"You know, why did they even bother to send us? If Delta is here, why can't they take care of it?" Asked Sweetwater.

"Because we are expendable. Besides, Alma has already massacred countless soldiers form Delta." I didn't want to be negative about the situation, but what could we do against someone like that? Though thinking about Delta reminded me of something.

"Delta... I wonder if..." I paused and shrugged. "No, I doubt it."

"What is it, Marlowe?" Asked Sarge.

"A good friend of mine is in Delta. His name is Michael Becket. I sure hope he didn't get involved in this mess," I said.

"I bet you, that this Bucket guy is involved in something here in this city right now," said Haggard.

"Yeah, maybe he's got some cool ability to slow down time as well or something like that," added Sweetwater.

"And I'm sure he's gonna be fighting a bunch of bad guys!" I chuckled.

"That is exaggerating a little bit. Becket may be as tough as they come, but I don't think he has any psychic powers or anything like that," I said.

"Alright you fools, just shut up and start walking. Our objective is to get to the Elementary School and destroy Alma while we are at it," said Sarge.

"Hey, anybody else get that feeling that we're being watched?" Asked Sweetwater as we started walking.

"I get the feeling that you have a screw loose in your head," said Haggard.

"No, I'm serious! I really feel like someone is watching us!"

"And I'm getting a headache just from listening to you two!" Exclaimed Sarge. I stopped walking.

"Wait, you've got a headache too?" I asked. Sarge looked over at me.

"Yeah. What, do you find these two just as annoying?"

"No I've gotten used to those two and their banter by now. I just have this really bad headache for some reason."

"Huh, that's weird. I've got a bad headache too," said Sweetwater.

"No way! I got a REAL bad headache too!" Exclaimed Haggard.

"According to some intel that I read, symptoms of Alma's proximity include hallucinations and painful headaches. She's here somewhere, stay sharp!" Said Sarge. We began to walk again. I stopped and looked behind me, up towards one of the buildings that were still somewhat intact. Thats when I noticed a woman with long dark hair covering parts of her face looking down at us from one of the windows. Sure enough, I was looking right at Alma Wade herself.

"Hey Marlowe! How long do you plan to stare at the scenery? Get a move on!" Said Sarge. I looked away from the window.

"Just a moment, Sarge! I have to..." I stopped as I looked up at the window again. Alma wasn't there anymore, she had already vanished. Maybe I had just seen a hallucination and not the real deal? I shrugged and began running to catch up with my squad. "Hey, wait up!"


	2. To fear, or not to fear?

Chapter 2: To fear, or not to fear? That isn't the question.

"You know, I've been thinkin'. If we have the power to cause pretty explosions that destroy cities like this, why haven't we found a way to make that a little more... you know... portable?" Asked Haggard as we were climbing through some rubble.

"Are you totally insane? That was a NUKE, Haggard! That's not something we can just use willy-nilly!" Exclaimed Sweetwater.

"That's why I should have joined the Airforce! They get to blow stuff up ALL the time!"

"Didn't I tell you two to shut up? You'll give away our position!" Said Sarge as he stopped walking and turned around to yell at the two soldiers.

"Sarge, think of it this way: This Alma girl is psychic right? She can probably hear our thoughts a mile away from here. We don't have to verbally say anything to give away our position," said Sweetwater.

"Maybe so, but we should at least try to keep our presence here relatively unnoticed."

"Unnoticed by what? All that's here is a bunch of rubble. I'm positive that Alma is nowhere to be found," said Haggard.

"Oh? And what makes you such an expert, Mr. Haggard the Pyromaniac Scientist?" Asked Sweetwater.

"I've got a REAL strong 6th sense."

"Riiight, and Sarge doesn't like fishing."

"Just shut up you two, we need to keep moving!" Exclaimed Sarge. As we approached a door, Sarge tried to open it. "Locked." Sarge kicked the door. "Won't even budge. We'll have to find another way around."

"Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that if we go back and take a right there is a small pathway through some of the rubble which should..." Just as I was about to point us in another direction, Haggard decided to interrupt.

"Or we could make our own door!" Exclaimed Haggard as he threw a grenade at a nearby wall, creating a giant hole in said wall. "Woooo HOOOOO!!!! I just LOVE blowing stuff up!"

"Well... that works too," I said as I swept some pebbles of debris off of my helmet. Sarge let out a sigh and shook his head.

"Why do I even bother sometimes?" He asked. Sweetwater approached the hole in the wall and walked through it. He looked around at the inside. It had been some sort of warehouse before that explosion judging by it's appearance.

"I can't believe that this place is still intact. A lot of buildings in the area have nearly been blown to tiny... AH!" Screamed Sweetwater as he suddenly started firing at something. We all jumped into the warehouse to assist him... but we didn't see anything.

"What the hell are you shooting at Sweetwater?" Asked Sarge.

"For a brief second I could have sworn that I saw Alma! She was standing right there!"

"You thought you saw Alma? I think you are just seeing things that aren't there," said Haggard.

"No! I swear! She was standing right over there!" Said Sweetwater as he gestured over to the right with his gun.

"Didn't I tell you that all that geek stuff you do would make you go crazy?"

"What? Being good with computers has nothing to do with..."

"We're never going to get to the school at this rate if you two don't shut up!" Said Sarge.

* * *

Alma Wade stood on what was left of the rooftop of the warehouse, looking down at the group of four soldiers. Two of them were arguing while the one who looked like the leader was yelling at them to shut up. She was puzzled, their telesthetic signatures were unusually high, and yet they didn't seem like they were capable of using any form of psychic power. She could partially see into their minds and what she saw troubled the young woman. They were on a mission to destroy her. She started to chuckle at the thought of it. There was no way these two would be able to kill her, especially since they don't have any apparent psychic powers. But if that was the case, why would her enemies only send four soldiers after her?

"_No matter. I'll simply kill them and move on with my plans. It'll be just like all those other soldiers I killed when I was sealed away in the fault... only much easier now," _she said in her thoughts. Though she paused as she remembered the various soldiers she had slaughtered. These four seemed unusually different from most soldiers. They didn't even seem like much of a threat, the kind of people who would be more likely of shooting themselves in the foot than actually killing an enemy. So maybe there isn't any need to kill them... yet. _"Alright, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun with these four," _thought Alma as she smirked.

* * *

As I followed my squad, that painful headache returned. I did my best to ignore it and kept on walking. I stopped and looked around at the rubble piled all over the street we were on.

"Hey how much further is the school?" I asked. Sweetwater turned around and looked over at me.

"We still have a ways to... hey Pres, what happened to your helmet?" Asked Sweetwater.

"What?" I placed my hands where my helmet was... only to find that it wasn't there at all. I let out a grunt of surprise and started looking around on the ground for my helmet. "I didn't even know that I had lost it!" As I was looking around, I felt something hit my shin, causing me to fall to the ground.

"Hey, my rocket launcher!" Exclaimed Haggard as his beloved weapon floated in the air above him. "That's my favorite weapon!" Suddenly all four of us were picked up and thrown down to the ground... in my case I was back on the ground again.

"Look!" Pointed Sweetwater as he got up and pointed at something behind me. I turned around just in time to end up being almost face to face with Alma Wade herself. She was wearing my helmet and was smirking as if she was enjoying all this. It was being this close to Alma that made me see just how scary looking she is. Alma looked like she was malnourished. She was stick thin and I could see her ribs. Her face was sunken in and her eyes looked like they were oozing out black blood. "It's her! It's her! Oh God, we're all going to die!"

"Shut the hell up Sweetwater! Marlowe, what are you waiting for? Take her out!" I looked over at Sarge with an expression of surprise.

"What about you guys? I can't take her on my own!" I exclaimed.

"Hey don't worry 'bout it! You kicked the Legionnaire's ass without any trouble!" Said Haggard.

"That was different! He only had a helicopter... he didn't have psychic powers!"

"Well you are closest to her, we think you should deal with this," said Sweetwater.

"Yeah, exactly!" Said Sarge. I sighed. I turned around and faced Alma, she still had that grin on her face. I cleared my throat.

"Excuse me, ma'am? First off, I want my helmet back," I said. Alma promptly took my helmet off and dropped it at my feet. "Oh, uh... thanks." I straightened up and tried to make myself look official. "Ma'am, we request that you cease and desist all paranormal freaky crap that you might be causing in this city. We have been authorized to use force if necessary so don't try anything. Comply with our demands or else..." Suddenly Alma's appearance changed. She went from malnourished and dead looking to healthy and drop-dead beautiful.

"Or else what?" She asked in an almost musical tone of voice. I paused as my mouth gaped wide open.

"Um, uh... or else we will... uh... that is... umm... well..." Suddenly Alma lunged forward at me while letting out a strange scream. I yelped and fell onto the ground. Alma started laughing and then vanished in a cloud of ashes. There was a moment of silence before anyone said anything.

"Good work, Pres. You really showed her!" Said Haggard.

"She'll probably be back before you know it," stated Sweetwater.

"Then Marlowe can deal with her once and for all," said Sarge. I sighed, picked up my helmet, and put it back on. We started walking through the ruined city again. Just as we began to make some progress, Sarge stopped, backed up against the wall, and motioned for us to do the same. "Stack up and stay low!" Whispered Sarge.

"What is it, Sarge?" I whispered as I took cover behind the same wall.

"Somebody is coming. Sounds like an APC or some sort of vehicle."

"Why do we gotta hide? Can't we just blow 'em up or somethin'?" Asked Haggard.

"Not without knowing who it is no! It could be one of ours for all we know!" Said Sarge. The sound of vehicle coming grew louder. Then there was the sound of a vehicle stopping and opening up.

"You were right, Sarge. It's an APC alright. It looks like it belongs to Armacham," whispered Sweetwater.

"Why doesn't anybody use a Truckasaurus Rex these days?" Asked Haggard rather loudly.

"Try saying that a little louder next time, I don't think they heard you!"

"Armacham? What are they doing out here?" I asked.

"I don't know. But I got a bad feeling about this," said Sarge. We all looked over whatever we had taken cover behind to take another look. There were two men dressed in fatigues that had a mix of blue and black colors and had the Armacham symbol on their chests. Standing next to them was an older man with short gray hair and blue eyes. He also wore similar armor. "Ah shit, I knew it!" Grunted Sarge.

"What's wrong?"

"That guy those two soldiers are talking to is Colonel Richard Vanek. He used to be a Marine, my commanding officer at one point. He is infamous for being a cold blooded killer, more psychotic murderer than a soldier. Apparently he is the head of Armacham's Security Force. Who the hell would assign that man a position of power..." Vanek and the two soldiers got into the APC and it drove off down the road. Sarge got up and looked in the direction that the APC went in. "Mike-one-Juliet, this is Bravo-one-Charlie, over."

"This is Mike-one-Juliet, over," responded Miss July.

"Any idea what ATC Security is doing here in the city, over?"

"According to intel, Armacham sent in it's security force to contain the situation and eliminate all information linking the company with Project Origin and Alma Wade. I'm guessing you had a run in with them, over."

"Yeah, we did. They didn't notice us though. Are they with us?"

"Hard to say. Though I wouldn't be surprised if they attacked you."

"What? Are you kidding? We're here to destroy Alma! Wouldn't that mean that we're on the same side?" Exclaimed Sweetwater.

"It would seem that Armacham is willing to do anything it takes to contain this situation. It goes without saying that they would doubtlessly have no hesitation to order their security force to attack the military if needed."

"Then let's go kill 'em to teeny tiny pieces!" Exclaimed Haggard.

"If they try to get in our way we may have to do just that," said Sarge.

"Sarge is agreeing with Haggard. The end of the world is nigh," said Sweetwater. Of course that sparked another argument between Sarge, Haggard, and Sweetwater. I sighed and activated my on COM ear piece.

"Thanks for the intel, Miss July. We're gonna continue heading to the school. Over," I said.

"Your welcome, boys. Mike-One-Juliet out."

"Alright, let's keep on moving. We still have a ways to go before we reach the school," said Sarge. We proceeded onward through the ruins of the city. As we were walking we came across a rather strange sight. We found two life sized statues of people. They looked disturbingly life like and they were running from something. They looked like they were made of stone.

"Now why would someone leave their lawn gnomes right in the middle of a destroyed city? That seems kinda silly to me," said Haggard.

"I'm pretty sure people didn't just leave these here," stated Sweetwater as he took a step closer to the statues. "I almost get the feeling that these were once living, breathing, civilians before... whatever did this to them."

"People turning into statues? That's one of the many dumbest things I've ever heard you say!"

"That doesn't even make sense, Haggard..."

"In a mess like this, nothing is really going to surprise me. For all we know, Sweetwater could actually be right about this," said Sarge. I approached one of the statues.

"They really do look disturbingly like people made out of stone..." I said as I reached out to touch the statue. As I touched the statue it crumbled into dust. I jolted back in surprise and looked at my hand. "What?"

"Stone statues falling apart into a cloud of dust in a second, now I've seen everything," said Sarge.

"So if they get touched by something they fall apart..." Muttered Haggard.

"Haggard! No!" Exclaimed Sweetwater. Too late. Haggard had already thrown a grenade at the feet of another couple of statues further away from us. It blew up, taking the statues with it along with part of a wall.

"WOOO HOOOOO!"

"Don't ever do that again, Haggard..." Said Sarge.

"Hey, it's not my fault that I love blowin' stuff up!"

"Haggard, I'm not even going to respond to that," said Sweetwater.

"Blowing things up can be a lot fun," said a familiar, musical voice. We all shot around and saw Alma standing there in front of us. She appeared in her malnourished form, and looking as scary as always.

"You again..." I said.

"I'm a very big fan of watching something blow up," continued Alma. Suddenly she started pulsing with orange red energy. Black tentacles made of smoke shot up from the ground around her. "Perhaps you'd all like to see a demonstration?"

"No, we don't need to see anything! Really!" Exclaimed Sweetwater. Just as Alma was about to attack us, she suddenly turned around and looked off towards the east.

"What?" For once I could hear surprise in Alma's voice. Then all of a sudden she licked her lips and smiled. With that she vanished, leaving us alone once more.

"Hey come back here!" Shouted Haggard.

"_I'll pass. I've detected something much more interesting," _echoed Alma's voice.

"What do you think she meant by that?" I asked.

"No idea, but I feel sorry for whoever she's after now," said Sarge. "Let's keep moving before she decides to come back." No one said anything in response to that and we kept on walking. Though it wasn't long before Sweetwater started talking... again.

"Why were we not given a vehicle? We'd get there much faster if we had one!" Exclaimed Sweetwater.

"It's because they don't want to waste any resources on us, if at all possible. We are Bad Company after all. I doubt that there are any cars in this city that are even remotely usable after that explosion," said Sarge.

"Ugh, my feet are killing me."

"Just shut up and keep walking."

"By the way, where is the school located anyway?" I asked.

"No worries, Pres! I've got this map of the city right here," said Sweetwater.

"I'm not entirely sure we should trust you with trail blazin'..." Said Haggard.

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Pyromaniac, I know what I'm doing. It should be a little ways down... that street," said Sweetwater as he pointed towards a street further down the road and to the right past a giant pile of rubble.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Sarge. As we started walking, I thought about Becket again. If he is involved in dealing with this mess somehow, I sure hope he doesn't end up having to deal with even half of the stuff we've already had to go through thanks to Alma. Though I couldn't help but get the feeling that we hadn't seen the worst of it yet... hardly.


	3. Replicated Trouble

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long. I was close to finishing this chapter only to have it end up getting corrupted because my computer was being stupid, so I had to rewrite the whole thing... In any case, here is the third chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3: Replicated Trouble

"Still no sign of that school, Sweetwater," said Haggard as we were walking.

"I assure you, it's this way," stated Sweetwater. Suddenly, Sweetwater stopped and hid behind what was left of a wall.

"What is it, Sweetwater?" questioned Sarge.

"There's someone down that street!" whispered Sweetwater.

"Marlowe, use your binoculars and get a closer look." I moved in, past Sweetwater, and looked down towards the soldiers. I had never seen soldiers like this before. They wore greenish colored fatiques and curved body armor. It reminded me a lot of US Army fatiques, like in Delta. Their faces were coverd by head masks and they appeared to have visors at the front of the mask.

"I've never seen guys like these before," I explained.

"What are they doing?" Asked Sarge.

"It looks like they are just standing there and talking."

"They're probably talking about important strategies. See if you can find anything out, Pres," said Sweetwater.

"I don't know about that. Back when I had to do patrol before I was in Bad Company, we would often just stand there and talk about pointless stuff," I said.

"Well it could have been worse. You could have been stuck in a box canyon in the middle of nowhere with no action whatsoever," commented Haggard.

"With the war against Russia? No chance of that happening," stated Sarge. "Are they friendlies, Marlowe?"

"I can't tell. It sounds like they are speaking english, but that doesn't say anything about them really," I replied.

"Well, then I guess it can't be helped. We'll have to move in closer and do some recon. We'll have to be as quiet as possible, or else they'll..."

"HEY ARE YOU WITH THE GOOD GUYS OR BAD GUYS?" shouted Haggard at the top of his lungs. The soldiers immediately turned around and ducked into cover.

"Contact!" yelled one of the soldiers as they started shooting at us.

"Haggard! Why did you do that?" cried Sweetwater.

"Well, it solved the big ol' mystery about these guys, right? That's what's important, we can ask questions later," said Haggard. Sarge sighed.

"We've got no choice now. Engage!" We started shooting at the soldiers.

"You know, these guys really seem to know what they are doing," said Sweetwater. He had a point. The way the soldiers moved, provided cover fire, and their team work... it all seemed very fluid and precise.

"Yeah they are good," I said. I popped up and fired several shots, hitting one of the soldiers in the head. "But they don't seem to be perfect."

"You know, it's one of those days that I'm REALLY glad that you are on our side, Pres." Haggard took out two soldiers with a grenade, Sarge and Sweetwater took out another two, and I killed one more. Suddenly the soldiers stopped firing and ducked behind cover. Resulting in an eerie silence. Then they got up and fell back where we couldn't hit them. "Hey, they ran away."

"Now why would they do that?" Asked Haggard.

"They must have gotten orders from whoever is commanding them, which is probably lucky for us," stated Sarge. "Let's go take a look at the corpses. Maybe we can figure out who these guys are." So we moved in to get a closer look.

"I've never seen guys like these before," I said.

"I don't think these soldiers are from any branch of the US Army, and they were speaking english, which rules out them being from another country."

"Hey, look at this!" Exclaimed Sweetwater as he turned one of the dead soldiers over. We went over to Sweetwater to get a closer look.

"What is it Sweetwater?"

"Look at this, Sarge. Recognize the tiny symbol on the top of the combat vest?" As we took a closer look, I could see what Sweetwater was getting at.

"That's the Armacham logo," I commented.

"Maybe this is one of them Armacham Security guys?" Suggested Haggard.

"No it's not. These guys are equipped differently than the security force," declared Sarge.

"Oh man, I've got a bad feeling about this," added Sweetwater.

"Well, let's not waste any more time here. Let's move out!" As we progressed down the post-apocalyptic streets, we came across a plaza filled with rubble that would serve a soldier well as cover. It seemed that someone was already using this place for that exact purpose. As we hid behind a wall we heard a constant stream of gunfire and shouting. "Marlowe, you are on recon. Find out who is shooting at who." I pulled out my binoculars again and used them to get a better look at the battlefield.

"It looks like Armacham Security is fighting those unknown soldiers from earlier," I reported.

"Well, that's a relief that they aren't allies. They'll be too distracted killing each other to even notice us. This gives us a good chance to slip by!" Commented Sweetwater.

"I think you mean: More for us to shoot at. That's more fun," countered Haggard.

"No, I wouldn't say being shot at is fun. Those unknown soldiers know what they are doing. They are..."

"Sweetwater... just shut the hell up," said Sarge. "Marlowe, can you see anything else?"

"Yeah, it looks like there is a third group participating in this fight," I added.

"Who?"

"From what I can see, the third group consists of one guy. It looks like he's with Delta."

"Only one guy? Who would send one guy against two factions?" Asked Sweetwater.

"He probably got separated from his squad in this hell hole," replied Sarge.

"Wait a second... I think I know that guy," I said. I zoomed in to get a closer look. "Yeah, there's no doubt about it. That's Mike, Michael Becket. No wonder he's doing so well against two groups at once."

"So he's a skilled soldier?"

"You could say that. Back when we were learning how to use sniper rifles, Mike had... holy shit."

"What happened, Pres?" Asked Haggard.

"I know Mike is good at fighting, but this is something else. He just killed three Armacham security soldiers and two unknown soldiers in two seconds flat. I didn't even know that it was physically possible to move that fast... let alone have that kind of reaction time." I looked through the binoculars to see that Becket was getting flanked by both groups. "Uh-oh, I think he could use a hand though."

"Then let's go save that guy's ass! Marlowe, go over there and support your friend. We'll flank the enemy from the far right," ordered Sarge. I nodded and ran through the ruined buildings and reached Becket's position. I jumped forward and killed one of the unknown soldiers as he approached the wall Becket was hiding behind. Becket hadn't changed one bit since I had last seen him. He had the tough look on his face that gave him the appearance of someone you didn't want to piss off. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing some sort of visor. He looked over at me with a look of surprise.

"Pres? Is that you? Why are you in this hell hole?" Asked Mike.

"Yeah it's me Mike. I just happened to be in the area and I saw that you were in the middle of a giant battle. So I figured you could use a hand," I replied.

"Thanks, I could use the help," said Mike as he got up and shot at two Armacham security soldiers, killing them. "As a side note, once we're out of this mess, how about we find some ice cold beer and catch up on what we've been busy with for the past year or so."

"Sounds good. Let's just get things wrapped up here and then take care of whatever else that needs to get done." The two of us continued the attack. The rest of my squad flanked on the right and took down any enemies that we missed. After the fight we regrouped at the center of the plaza.

"Is this your squad, Pres?" Asked Mike.

"Yeah he's in our squad. I'm Sergeant Redford. The one to your left is Sweetwater, and the one to your right is Haggard," stated Sarge.

"I am Sergeant Michael Becket, Delta."

"So you and Marlowe know each other?"

"That's right. We have known each other since we were little kids. The two of us enlisted around the same time and went through Basic together. Eventually we got separated when I was recruited into Delta."

"And I ended up at some outpost in Russia. Nowhere near as exciting," I concluded.

"So how did things go over there? I missed the last year of the war against Russia because of some advanced training I had to go through. You must have earned quite a few medals, right? Maybe even the medal of honor?" I hesitated for a second. I hadn't even told Mike about the whole 'chopper incident'. This was going to be interesting.

"Uhhh yeah, about that. One day I got really bored and I decided to take a chopper for a pleasure cruise. I accidentally landed it on the General's Limo." If looks could kill, Mike would have drilled a hole through my head.

"What were you thinking? That aside, how are you not in jail?"

"I got transferred to Bad Company, that's how I avoided prison time."

"Bad Company? Isn't that the branch of the military that has the highest mortality rate?"

"Yeah that's us," commented Sarge.

"I don't believe this. Had you not pulled that stunt I'm pretty sure you could have eventually been a good candidate for F.E.A.R., just like I am."

"F.E.A.R.? As in: First Encounter Assault Recon? That branch actually exists?" Asked Sweetwater.

"I thought that was just a myth," said Haggard.

"No, they're real. So why is Bad Company here exactly?" Asked Mike.

"I could tell you, but I don't think you'd believe me," I answered.

"After spending a few hours in this hell hole, I'll find anything believable. So try me," stated Mike with a smirk on his face.

"Alright, so we've been sent in to find and destroy this woman named Alma Wade. Apparently she already died but has somehow come back to life or something like that. She has strong psychic powers and she's kind of scary. It's a rather ridiculous sounding mission, isn't it?" There was nothing but silence. "Mike?" I looked over at him to see that he was pale and had a look of horror on his face.

"Oh god... you mean... you are trying to destroy..._her_?" Asked Mike.

"You've seen her too?" Asked Sarge.

"Yes... I have..." Mike shuddered as if shaking off a bad memory. "Then in that case, we have a common purpose. I need to rendezvous with my team and then we will come up with a plan to take out Alma."

"Agh! Snipers! I'm pinned down!" Cried a female voice on the COM channel.

"Becket, can you get to her?" Asked another voice on the channel.

"What was that all about?" Asked Sweetwater.

"Lt. Stokes is in trouble, I have to go save her!" Exclaimed Mike.

"You mean Kiera Stokes? She's in Delta as well?" I asked.

"Yeah. She's been in Delta longer than I have."

"So is she your girlfriend or somethin'?" Asked Haggard.

"W-what? Where did that come from?" Demanded Mike as he started blushing.

"Haggard, look at that. I think he's blushing," said Sweetwater.

"Well, would you look at that! They may not be dating, but it's pretty clear that somebody has got a crush," added Haggard.

"I...th-this... that is... I... Don't make me pull rank on you!" Exclaimed Mike in an unusually flustered tone. I kind of figured that Mike was interested in Kiera, but this proved it.

"Would you two shut up already? He's higher ranked than both of you, show some respect!" Exclaimed Sarge.

"Anyway, let's get a move on. The sooner we get there, the better." We went north, towards what was left of some sort of building. I didn't know what we would find in the areas ahead of us, but it was good to know that we now had five people instead of four.

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Don't worry, the next chapter shouldn't take anywhere near as long to write up and upload.

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